Prof Geoffrey Hinton claims “we’re going to develop AIs that are smarter than people. And that’s a very scary thought” (‘Godfather of AI’ shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years, 27 December). The obvious response to this is: if something is “very scary”, why do it?
Máire Davies
London
• Geoffrey Hinton seems to think humans are, so far, the most intelligent beings. To willingly contrive to get ourselves into this predicament suggests otherwise.
Neil Blackshaw
Alnwick, Northumberland
• Delighted that the King’s daughter has been honoured with an MBE – Dawn Astle, that is, daughter of Jeff Astle, the King of the Baggies, rewarded for her work campaigning for research into head injuries in football (Report, 30 December).
Reg Snell
Wellington, Shropshire
• The evaporated milk and jelly dessert (Letters, 31 December) was often on the menu at Nottingham University’s Wortley hall of residence in the 1960s. Known to students as spon, it prompted the sport of spon spinning, where the challenge was to rotate the bowl through 360 degrees without losing any of the contents to the table.
Peter Barnes
Milton Keynes
• Another use for evaporated milk: my four sons, now strapping lads at over 6 feet, were bottle-fed with it, diluted according to the instructions on the tin.
Wendy McMullan
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• Growing up in the 1950s, many of my mates used to enjoy white bread sandwiches spread with margarine and coated with Nestlé’s milk.
John Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire
• Can I be the first to say that 2025 isn’t living up to expectations?
Steve Townsley
Wick, Vale of Glamorgan
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
